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Castleford Tigers 8 Leeds Rhinos 34

7th March 2004

By Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos maintained an unbeaten start to the Tetley’s Rugby Super League IX season with a 34-6 derby win at Castleford.

Danny McGuire's hat-trick proved much of the difference between the sides, with Tigers coach Graham Steadman labelling him as 'a different class' afterwards.

WP – Home MPU

However, it was only a late burst of four tries which took Leeds home in front of a near-capacity crowd at The Jungle. Kevin Sinfield's intercept of Sean Rudder's pass almost saw the Rhinos skipper score, with Darren Rogers stopping him just short, but McGuire took Matt Diskin's pass two tackles later to step his way over.

McGuire had a try disallowed just after the quarter mark, for offside following Matt Diskin's grubber, but the stand off was not to be denied four minutes later.

Dave Furner's pass sent Wayne McDonald charging through a gap, and McGuire supported on the inside to score under the posts, Sinfield adding the extras.

Wayne Godwin them found himself sent for a spell in the sin-bin on 36 minutes as tempers boiled over. Both McGuire and Clayton went close to crossing again before the deadlock was finally broken in style on 61 minutes. Mark Calderwood's kick return saw him break up the middle and, although Jonny Hepworth just managed to get to him at the corner, he offloaded for Marcus Bai to touch down.

Two tries followed in quick succession, with Bai breaking down the left and McGuire supporting to send Gary Connolly over.

Neat hands from Keith Senior, Furner and Connolly then saw McGuire dive over to finally complete his hat-trick on 67 minutes, with two Sinfield goals pushing the Rhinos out to 28-8.

Senior then sealed the two points with eight minutes remaining, after McGuire had put Bai clear, Sinfield adding his fifth goal.